Shenmue (Dreamcast, 2000)

A amazing graphical leap forward for console games. Shenmue was like the Gone With the Wind for the one-time graphical powerhouse that was the sega Dreamcast. At the time of its release, Dreamcast was in desperate need of a hit and Japan. Sega of Japan allowed Shenmue to be produced under the watchful eye of the legendary game-maker Yu Suzuki. In the process, not only did Shenmue become one of the best graphical tour-de-forces on Sega's now defunct box, but it became the most expensive game ever produced with a budget somewhere in the high millions. When it released in Japan to no audience everyone was stunned. In the U.S. this game went on to sell millions, still not enough to save Sega's Dreamcast though. The Graphics are still better than most things churned out on Sony's underwhelming PS2 hardware, as few remember that Dreamcast was the first console of this generation. Pick up the Dreamcast hardware and buy this game. What you will notice is a little pop-up as the game's engine loads characters onto the screen, other than that, one of the Dreamcast's top games, with more heart than anything on todays' consoles.